NEW YORK- Imagine being able to step onto a life-size version of your favorite board game, ride a bicycle disguised as a fish or grow grass on your car.
Meet the Makers. These artists and inventors capitalized on their do-it-yourself attitudes to make their dreams- no matter how silly they might seem- a reality. From across the country, they traveled to Queens this weekend for a celebration of craftiness and creativity at the New York Hall of Science.
“The Maker Faire is about curiosity, creativity and inventiveness. That’s the crux of scientific discovery and at the heart of the Maker movement,” said Margaret Honey, the President and CEO of the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI).
The event has been held in San Mateo, Calif. since 2006 and this year expanded to Detroit and New York. Both visitors to the Faire and the Makers themselves embraced the do-it-yourself attitude. Exhibit booths were decorated with reminders to recycle and children worked at craft stations making bird houses from bottle caps. "We just want to crush things," said Kelly Detorent of Oakland, Calif., a Maker who has been traveling with the Life-Size Mousetrap across the country. He explained that the fair is more about the ingenuity of ideas rather than their practicality.
Nim Lee, a Brooklyn-based scientist and artist, was at the Faire showing the Fish Bicycle, a bicycle decorated with pink sparkling spandex and surrounded by a wooden frame the size of a car. She originally designed the costume with her husband for the New York Aquarium’s Mermaid Parade, held every summer in Coney Island.
“We’re both avid bike riders and we got a really good response from it,” she said as visitors lined up to ride her bike. Lee acknowledged that a costume for your bicycle is not very practical, but she is still working on getting a patent for her invention. She said that she hopes it can be used by conservation agencies to attract attention to causes such as the environment and recycling.
Amy Caterina, a photographer from Santa Cruz, Calif. traveled to the Maker Faire to show “Pseudo-Sod Car Cover,” a knit car cover that she hand-knit to look like grass. Catrina spoke to how the project developed out of her close family ties. She designed the cover for her Toyota Echo, the first car she owned and that her father bought for her shortly before losing his job at a company that went out of business. She learned to knit from her grandmother and was inspired to make a grass-like car cover by her longing for a lawn after moving from her home in Niagara Falls to dry southern California.
“This is about the do-it-yourself movement. I teach photography and I always have students who want a studio. I tell them they don’t have to spend a ton of money. Go to Home Depot, get some boards, clamp them together. That’s a studio,” she said.
She added that one of the most rewarding parts of the Faire was watching children rest their heads on the knit car cover and seeing visitors interact with the pieces.
One of the most popular was sponsored by Martha Stewart Living and featured cardboard cut-out butterflies for visitors to make. They could be spotted sticking out of backpacks and resting on tables besides heaping plates of paella and watermelon smoothies.
Sasha Mace-Abdelgelli, of New Jersey, tucked her butterfly into a hat she made herself from cardboard and a paper bag. It looked fantastic as she watched the giant mousetrap crush a 10-year old taxi.
“I couldn’t find any sunscreen,” she said. “So I went to this recycling craft station and made myself a hat.”
And Rachel said...
Rachel:
Overall, a good Daybook article. You have a nice writing style that is clean and organized. And I can tell you did a great job reporting/interviewing.
Some things to keep in mind: Read your AP Stylebook and memorize some of the key things you use most often. But what’s even more important that style is consistency. Even if you mess up, it’s better to have only one version instead of multiple. It’s important to pay close attention to the little details.
This is also a bit too long for a Daybook. I cut out a few grafs that didn’t really add anything to the story.
One small thing most editors will tell you: Don’t put two spaces between sentences. Whether your copy is posted to a website or printed in a paper/mag, an editor will have to go in and remove every extra space. So it’s helpful if you work on breaking that habit now.
Also, I think your structure would have been stronger is you led with the details. Put the info about the quirky projects up front. Lead with the examples, and then go into what they were and who the artists were. That would keep people more interested than starting with general statements about this movement.
Keep up the good work! -Rachel…
Photos!!!!
These flags were near the fish- bicycle...
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